World Café on Microplastic Pollution

A World Café workshop co-organised with the Think Tank Foraus in the framework of the MSc in Environmental Science (MUSE) and in the context of the course titled "chemistry of the environment and global cycles" taught by Professor Vera Slaveykova (Faculty of Science).

Mr. Cyrille Durand, expert in circular plastics and packaging,; Dr. Julien Boucher, Executive Director, EA; Ms. Damaris Carnal, Senior Policy Advisor, FOEN; Prof. Vera Slaveykova, UNIGE; Mr. Jost Dittkrist, Programme Officer, BRS Conventions

Ingredients:

40 highly motivated students of the MSc in Environmental Science

1 dynamic professor

4 renowned and generous experts from the private sector, the Swiss Government, an International Organization and an NGO

4 kind volunteers from Foraus

1 very helpful pedagogical consultant from SEA

2 organizers from the International Relations and Partnerships Office

Recipe:

A blend of the following educational tools:

(1) flipped classroom: students were giving a reading list of both academic articles and readings suggested by external experts prior to the workshop

(2) World Café: Discussion was held at 4 separate tables in an informal cafe setting, turning every 25 minutes

(3) External experts from across sectors. At each table, there was a representative from a sector: International Organization | Academia/NGO | Government | Private Sector to allow students to have an overall view of the question. Students were asked to formulate their questions to the experts and jointly come up with a solution. Each group had to make a 5 minutes presentation at the end

(4) Designation of roles within members of each group- Members of each group had to choose their role within the group in order to work more effectively: facilitator, recorder, reporter, time-keeper, harmonizer, prioritizer etc.

(5) Collaboration with a student-led Think-Tank. The workshop was co-designed with a student-led Think Tank, which allowed both to have the students’ perspective in mind and to allow students, after the course, to publish a policy brief, should they wish to.